Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-02-10
HORRIBLE DISASTER.
A Passenger Train Jumps the
Track While. Crossing a
Bridge.
Over 40 Lives Lost and Many Persons
Injured.

One of the most appalling railroad dis
asters ever known occurred near Wood
stock VT, about one O'Clock on the morn
ing of the 9Th inst. AT that hour four
passenger coaches of the Montreal express
heavily freighted with pleasure seekers
bound for scenes of carnival and fun. were
hurled from the edge of an open Howe
bridge, 600 feet in length, and while the
Train was running at full speed, were pre-
cipitated with the bridge itself down one
OF the widest gorges of the Green Mountain
state seventy feet on the icy surface OF the
White river. and they were burned to
ashes, cremating over forty human beings,
killing dozen more and seriously, if not ia
tally burning and naming a score OF others.
All the cars were well filled, the Spring
field and Boston sleepers being filed with
people bound for the winter sports at Mon
treal. The weather was clear but cold.
The engineer knew his ground thoroughly,
and as the train was over an hour late, he
was determined to make up lost time.
Over the four mile straight-away stretch
west of the station the train sped along at
the rate of forty miles an hour, and all on
b GARD had settled down to a nap, wholly
un conscious of the terrible death awaiting
them "A few rods ahead. Suddenly the
train dashed around a curve and up
Slight grade to the long wooden deck Howe
bridge which crosses the White River,
seventy feet above its rushing waters.
The river at this point passes through
deep. rocky gorge, the Jagged edge OF the
precipice on either side, with its perpen-
dicular sides bordered by stunted pines,
making a wildly romantic scene. At this
point the train suddenly ended its jour
ney. A broken rail 200 feet from the bridge
is all that is left to tell the cause. Whether
the train broke the frosty rail. throwing the
! .I.Nl IL.
broken before the train arrived, or whether
some wheel gave way and snapped the
rail is not known, and may never be
known. In an instant there was jar, a
humping of trucks over the railroad ties !;
the coupling between the forward sleeper
and the four following cars broke, the en-
ginc, baggage and smoking cars passed on
to the bridge and over in safety, but the
other four cars jumped along over the
ties TO the end of the bridge, Knocked out
the heavy timbers which rested on the
abutmentI and then toppled over-bridge,
cars and human freight, fully eighty souls,
all told. falling with a tremendous crash
down the jagged precipice seventy feet.
striking upon the frozen surface OF the
river. Then followed n scene which beg
CARS all power of human description. The
| splintered wreck took fire and the dark
| gorge was soon lighted up by the glare of
burning coaches and bridge timber The
detached portion of the train was stopped
sible. Those on board sprang into the
| deep snow and made their way
as best they could down the steep bank
to assist any in the wreck who were alive.
| Here and there man or woman had sue
] ceeded in getting extricated from the
debris and were bravely rendering all the
assistance in their power TO rescue their
| less fortunate companions, but the rescuers
were perfectly helpless because of the in
tense heat of the burning cars and bridge.
Il 81 h.a 60 10
meath huge timbers beyond all human aid
! The groans of the half conscious dying,
! the screams of the burning, mingled with
! the hoarse shouts OF the trainmen and q
J few farmers who had arrived on the scene.
/ Very little could be done to aid the in
| jured and absolutely nothing towards
! quenching the flames. The ice on the
river was three feet thick and no water
could be procured. The sickening stencil
of burning human flesh soon arose from
enduring the martyrdom of being
burned alive grew fainter and fainter.
| The injured who had been extri-
Gated from the ruins were soon con-
veyed to the neighboring arm houses
or slowed away in the smoking or bag
gage cars, and when the relief train ar
rived from White River junction the wreck
had been entirely consumed. At least
forty persons, and probably nearer 90, were
killed outright or burned TO death, and in
sible. Some of the passengers as the re-
mains show, were instantly killed in the
fall and crash. Many with broken limbs
and bodies were damned in between seats
and other portions of the wreck, vainly
calling for succor and release. Some only
slightly injured, were unable to move be-
cause of the weight upon them and, others
not hurt at all beyond few
bruises contrived to escape through win
dows and the broken sides of the cars In
the sleepers nearly all had laid aside their
dress, except underclothing, and those of
them'as were so fortunate found themselves
on the snow and ice with this scanty cover
ing and the mercury marking 20 degrees
below zero, and frozen feet and limbs,
many of them so badly frozen as to neces-
state amputation. add to the casualties.
The number of wounded is very large and
some will undoubtedly prove fatal, and
the death roll be increased.
Most of the bodies recovered were taken
to the village of Hartford and placed in
an undertaker's establishment. Forty
bodies in all have been taken out of the
wreck, and only five of this mt nber are in
any manner recognizable. 1t will be i'm
possible to- tell how many were on the
train as the conductor had only begun
taking up tickets after leaving White River
Junction. Many bodies have probably
gone into the river and under the ice.